The act of screen printing, by which the ink is transferred directly through the stencil onto the paper, allows for unpredictability. By applying layers of ink to the newspaper sheets, fully control is avoided. Here the painterly process is untameable. Trying to evoke ‘a deep sense of place’ through the silkscreen technique. Every print has it’s unique shifts. In this way the prints are an extraction of a raw landscape. True materiality. Soaked by ink, 49 grams paper feel textured as textile. Yellowing by sunlight makes them ephemeral. Ever changing.
Folding the paper will bring a grid into play. Coördinates to make the cartography appear. As Elke Couchez puts it: “Yet the lines on the maps are not coordinates which simplify the road trip. Instead of stressing the optical organization of space, this is a haptic experience. Raw, unorganized and always becoming. At no point does Vermeren grant us the pleasure and the ease of the overview. This map of the landscape is one for getting lost.”

The Reverse Images of Cityscapes.

Mining holes are the reverse images of cityscapes. Opposite to modern city’s and it’s vertical representations, landscape is predominantly horizontal. On the other hand, a stone quarry appears as a city turned upside down. The substratum of high-rise buildings. The grit of highways. Often we are unconscious of the city’s origins and rural birthplaces.

Stones on Stone paper.

Rock paper is primarily made from calcium carbonate, a natural byproduct of water and limestone that is found in quarries. A small amount of plastic is needed as a support (20% HDPE). The paper is tree-free, and no water or bleach is used during production. The paper is easily broken down by outside sunlight; 200 micron thick paper will break and crack in a period of 9 to 12 months. It can also be burned without the release of harmful gasses.

From Rüdersdorf to Berlin. From nets to renovations.
The limestones are transformed into cement and concrete in the city. They transfer the fences of the geological landscape and pass constructions, ladders and webs to find new grids to nestle.